My phase 1 of a repair journey with Dr. Ali Emre

[monaba]

Hello everyone,

 

I would like to share my story with the community. I’ve learnt a great deal from the website and the forum, and if anyone had a similar case to mine, I hope they learn from my experience.

 

A little background about me, I’m currently 24, I had a bad hair transplant of about 2000 grafts done two years ago in a local clinic. I barely did any research. I was so ashamed of my receding hairline and baldness has caused me so much anxiety that I didn’t ask much about the procedure. I didn’t do research on the internet either.. I did the bare minimum.. I guess I was just hoping things would turn out good! Of course it was so na?ve of me. But anyways, what’s done is done and it’s about dealing with consequences now.

 

The hair transplant was, unsurprisingly, a failure. The transplanted hair grew very wiry and unnatural. I can’t really comb the hair. I think the angles were very bad. To make things worse, I believe the closure of the incision was subpar which caused me to sport an ear-to-ear scar. I measured it once it was about 23 cm in length and 1 cm in width.

 

I embarked on my repair journey a month ago. My goal was to minimize the size of the scar first, and later on have another transplant. I believe my case is quite challenging because I will have to fue most if not all the grafts transplanted in the first procedure. I was norwood 2-3 when I had my first hair transplant and based on family history and my hair loss pattern, I think I will be norwood 6. I opted for a scar revision instead of fueing into the scar because of the width of my scar. I like to keep my hair short. Fueing into the scar wasn’t feasible at this point. I e-mailed several recommended doctors about my case. Some recommended fueing into the scar others recommended scar revision. Of those who recommended a scar revision, only two seemed confident that they could improve the scar. Dr. Ali was one of them.

 

I decided to go with Dr. Ali Emre Karadeniz after finding out about a very similar case on this forum and because the other doctor ‘s earliest appointment was in June this year – the scar has caused me so much anxiety that I wanted to minimize it ASAP. I e-mailed him and he was very prompt in his responses. He answered all my questions and seemed confident that he can improve the scar.

 

Anyways, last month I flew to Turkey to have the scar revision. I personally took care of the accommodation. Dr. Ali’s driver picked me up. He was a very pleasant guy. After reaching the clinic, the nurses offered me tea and biscuits. They were very accommodating. Later on, I met Dr. Ali and he had a closer examination of my scar. We talked about my case and he wasn’t sure that I’m taking the best route by having a scar revision only. He suggested that having a scar revision while extracting as many grafts as possible is the better option given my current hair loss pattern and good scalp laxity. I decided against it. Dr. Ali comes off very confident. I don’t believe he’s the best in conveying his message though. I’m sure he means well, but I think he might need to work on his emotional intelligence. Like for example, I told him that I’m deciding against FUT, though it has the advantage of offering me more grafts, and would do FUE instead in the future because I believe if I continue to wear my hair short I will need fewer grafts. He said ‘if you say so’. I mean even if I’m wrong about needing fewer grafts assumption.. I’ve come to a doctor so he could educate me instead of saying if you say so.. Anyways, I don’t wanna be unfair to him, I’m sure he means well. But my advice to him is to work on his emotional intelligence. Patients go to Doctors because they’re in a vulnerable state and they need help.

 

Back to the procedure, the revision didn’t take long. It took about an hour. It was, however, more painful than I thought. I was happy that I got it out of the way.

 

A month passed by. I know it is early to tell, but the scar already looks much better and I already can cut my hair on the sides shorter than before. Let’s hope I get a much thinner scar from the revision.

 

I’m hoping to address my badly transplanted hair and the thinning areas in August or September this year. This will hopefully allow enough time for the scar to heal. If needed, I will fue into the scar. Let’s wait and see. Please check the pictures and share your opinion.

 

I will post pictures after 3 months and 6 months of the scar revision. My hair in the donor region is a bit long, I will have my hair cut this week. I just don't wanna take any chances with the scar. It's quite stressful.

 

One last note, is there any reason why transplanted hair would look different than native hair. I know I had a bad hair transplant, but why would the hair be different than my native hair?

Edited March 29, 2015 by monaba

[BUSA]

I think its interesting how Pro FUT guys say "poor FUT scaring happened years ago but doesn't happen today". this is why I tell ppl to steer clear from FUT.

 

personally I think Karadeniz isn't very good but hopefully he got the scar revision right. but I wud agree with ur assessment of him and his "if u say so" comment which is something I wud expect from some schmuck not the doctor I'm going to to fix my previous screw up.

 

remind me to steer clear of him....

 

seek out a quality FUE doctor and put some density in there and it will look fine. seems like u have plenty of donor hair left.

[hairweare]

If your previous scar was due to poor technique as to opposed to poor physiologic issues such as a tight scalp then I would have agreed with the doc and harvested some grafts above and below the scar to be used towards your repair. Just excising the scar tissue appears to be a wasted opportunity since in skilled hands your risk for another wide scar would not have been significantly higher but this way you ended up with no additional grafts. You appear to be a good candidate for FUE down the road anyway but since you started with a strip and opted to have it repaired, I would have advised to stay that course at least for this particular procedure. I agree that the "have it your way" response is more appropriate for a fast food drive through than a doctor's office.

 

If the dermal papillae is traumatized during the procedure poor growth or a abnormal kinkiness to the hair shaft could result.

[monaba]

Just to clear any confusion.. my comment about the 'if you say so' wasn't intended as the doctor did not explain FUT is better than a scar revision alone. He did thoroughly explain that I should do a FUT instead of just a scar revision. I was very adamant that I only want a scar revision.

 

My point was that when I said I would rather take the FUE route in the future and would sacrifice the extra grafts I will get from FUT because I believe if I continue to wear my hair short I will need fewer grafts overall. Dr. Ali responded here with 'if you say so'. I'm not sure my assumption is true that if I continue wearing my hair short I would need fewer grafts. I would've preferred if the doctor explained his point of view here (for example, if the doctor said you'd need the same number of grafts regardless of how you wear your hair) instead of responding with 'if you say so.'

Edited March 29, 2015 by monaba